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 973»7L63 Henry, David W 
 
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 1^^^^*^ Abraham Lincoiin 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
Abraham Lincoln 
 
 UBRARY 
 UnBOlt Wefncri'*! University 
 
 An Address Delivered By 
 
 HON. DAVID W. HENRY 
 
 Before Blinn Camp No. 82, Sons of Veterans 
 
 Terre Haute, Indiana 
 
 February 12, 1925 
 
Abraham Lincoln 
 
 An Address Delivered By 
 
 HON. DAVID W. HENRY 
 
 Before Blinn Camp No. 82, Sons of Veterans 
 
 Terre Haute, Indiana 
 
 February 12, 1925 
 
 6n\ 
 

 ABRAHA3I LINCOLN 
 
 It has been the custom for several years with Blinn Camp No. 42, Sons 
 of Veterans, to observe the anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, 
 February 12th, with an entertainment and banquet, to which each member 
 is privileged to invite as his guest some survivor of the Civil War. On the 
 occasion of this anniversary, February 12th, 1925, the main event of the 
 evening was a naddress on "Abraham Linocln," by Hon. David W. Henry, 
 himself the son of a Civil War veteran, and a member of Blinn Camp. Mr. 
 Henry spoke as follows: 
 
 MR. CHAIRMAN, FELLOW MEMBERS, SONS OF VETERANS: 
 
 To keep alive the love of our country we do well to go over some 
 of the scenes our sires fought for, and the principles they died for, 
 with their great and immortal commander. 
 
 I saw a cartoon. A picture of a scene one hundred and sixteen 
 years ago. Two old fellows down in Kentucky, dressed like back- 
 woodsmen. 
 
 One said to the other, "What's happened around here?" 
 
 The other said, "Nothing's happened around here. A boy baby 
 was born up at Tom Lincoln's last night but nothing ever happens 
 around here." 
 
 Sixty-four years ago we were divided into two hostile sections 
 over an issue that had to be fought out. It was fought out by 
 courageous, fearless, honest men on both sides, on fields of blood amid 
 the thunder of battle. To both sides it was final. The last survivor 
 on the firing lines in a very few years will be gathered to his fathers. 
 
 We are to consider one of the great characters in that war. He 
 belongs to no party but to the world. In life he was an American. He 
 is an American no longer. 
 
 His praises were multiplied by those living then and those born 
 since that April evening sixty years ago when the pistol shot rang 
 through Ford's theatre. 
 
 Statesmen of every land and clime have been students of his in- 
 tellectual genius. Search has been made for every scrap of paper 
 upon which he wrote. In the congressional library alone there are 
 more than three thousand volumes. 
 
 Of the actual historical characters we know but little about their 
 personalities. Washington, Adams and Jefferson are only steel en- 
 gravings. We have got so far away from them that we almost forget 
 they were human beings. 
 
 But we seem to be acquainted with Lincoln. He had no college 
 nor university, nor diploma. He had no education nor social ad- 
 vantage, nor friends influential, nor wealth to aid him. 
 
 3 
 
His history is the simple annals of the poor. He stands alone. He 
 had no fellows and he has no successors. He was history's most 
 startling wonder. Born in the Blue-grass state. At the age of seven 
 his father brought him to Hoosierdom the same year that Indiana be- 
 came a state which had 65,000 people, not as many as Terre Haute has 
 today. 
 
 He lost his greatest friend — his mother — when he was ten. Like 
 all the great, her teachings were in his mind even to manhood. Her 
 grave is on the hillside looking down upon the little town of Lin- 
 coln City and was marked by a simple slab until Mr, James Stude- 
 baker of South Bend, erected a shaft to her memory. On this shaft 
 are four words — the most precious tongue can tell or pen can write: 
 
 "MOTHER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN" 
 
 He once wrote in a letter, "All I am and all I hope to be, I owe 
 to my dear mother." 
 
 He once said, "I never went to school more than six months in my 
 life." His family were so poor that they couldn't afford candles to 
 read at night. In a log cabin, in front of a big fireplace, he would 
 lie down flat on the floor, his book in front of him, his head upon his 
 hands, he studied. 
 
 Over and over again he read his library through and through. 
 This library consisted of the Bible, Life of Washington, Aesop's 
 Fables, and Pilgrim's Progress. On a wooden shovel for a slate and 
 a piece of charcoal for a pencil he figured to the "rule of three." 
 
 One time he borrowed Weem's Life of Washington from a Mr. 
 Crawford. The book was rained on and damaged. Having no money 
 to pay for it he took it back and told all about it and said he would 
 work it out. "Well, Abe," said Mr. Crawford, "as it's you I won't be 
 hard on you; come over and pull fodder for three days and we'll call 
 our accounts even." 
 
 He composed verses. One of these: 
 
 "Good boys who to their books apply, 
 Will all be great men by and by." 
 
 On the fiy leaf of his school book in his fourteenth year he wrote: 
 "Abraham Lincoln, his hand and pen, 
 He will be good but god knows When." 
 
 His knowledge of the use of capitals was defective for this couplet 
 shows "God" to commence with a small "g" and the word "when" to 
 commence with a capital "W". 
 
 In 1830 when twenty-one he moved with his father to Illinois. He 
 had grown to manhood and before leaving the last home of his mother 
 
 4 
 
lie put on a wooden slab the initials, "N. H, L." and placed it securely 
 at the head of the grave. 
 
 In 1831 on his second trip to New Orleans he witnessed for the 
 first time the chaining together and whipping of slaves. Saw the separa- 
 tion of husband and wife, parent and child, when whole families were 
 sold into slavery. He saw a beautiful mulatto girl sold at auction. 
 He said to John Hanks, "By God, if I ever get a chance to hit that 
 institution, I'll hit it hard, John." 
 
 He went into the Blackhawk War and was elected Captain. This 
 is a changing world and not very big, for while in camp near the site of 
 the present town of Dixon he met Lieut. Colonel Zachary Taylor, the 
 same who was Captain at the battle of our Fort Harrison. He met 
 Lieut. Jefferson Davis who was afterwards President of the Confeder- 
 acy and whom Lincoln's men captured when he was fleeing. He met 
 Lieut. Robert Anderson, the same officer who was to command the 
 first battle whose guns electrified the north at Fort Sumter. When they 
 met in Washington Lincoln said to him, "Major, do you remember of 
 having met me before?" "No, Mr. President, I have no rcoUection." 
 Lincoln said, "My memory is better than yours, you mustered me into 
 the service of the United States in 1832 at Dixon's Ferry in the Black- 
 Iiawk War." 
 
 At twenty-three he was a candidate for the legislature and de- 
 feated. But in his home precinct of the 208 votes cast he received 
 all but three. This was his only defeat at the hands of the people. 
 In running against Douglas he received a majority of the popular 
 vote in the State of Illinois. His first speech in that campaign was 
 iDrief and I quote it: 
 
 "Gentlemen, fellow citizens: I presume you all know who 
 I am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited 
 by my friends to become a candidate for the legislature. My 
 politics are short and sweet like the old woman's dance. I 
 am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the Internal 
 Improvement system, and of a high protective tariff. These 
 are my sentiments and political principles. If elected, I shall 
 be thankful; if not, it will be all the same to me" 
 
 After his defeat he turned to business. Like Patrick Henry he kept 
 A store and like Patrick Henry he failed. His partner drank too much 
 and he read books and told too many stories. Lincoln assumed the 
 debts of the firm, the last of which he paid in 1848. 
 
 Lincoln at the age of twenty-four was elected. In 1836 he was 
 again elected. In the session of 1837 when twenty-eight years old, 
 he began his anti-slavery work which twenty-six years afterward 
 ended finally in the Proclamation of Emancipation. He and Dan 
 
 5 
 
stone were the only two members of the legislature who signed a 
 •protest against slavery in that session. 
 
 When a boy he attended a trial at Boonville, Indiana. He con- 
 ceived the idea of being a lawyer. He went home and dreamed of 
 courts. 
 
 At thirty-two he bought a second-hand copy of Blackstone and 
 began to study law. 
 
 Then he sought out his old time friend and fellow soldier, John T. 
 Stewart, who was a prosperous lawyer, and loaned him law books. 
 He lived at New Salem, fourteen miles from Springfield. When he 
 read one book he took it back and got another. Afterwards he was 
 offered a partnership by Stewart. 
 
 Speed in speaking of his entry into Springfield says, "He rode into 
 town on a borrowed horse without any earthly goods except a pair of 
 saddle-bags and two or three law books and some clothes. He set 
 the saddle-bags on the counter. Mr. Speed kept a store. Lincoln 
 wanted to buy the furniture for a single bed and when he learned 
 that the whole outfit for the bed would cost $17.00 he said: 
 
 "That's cheap enough, but small as the price is, I am unable to 
 pay it. If you will give me credit till Christmas time, and my ex'peri- 
 ment as a lawyer succeeds, I will pay you then." 
 
 "Well," said Speedy "suppose you don't succeed." 
 
 "If I fail, I do not know that I can ever pay you," said Lincoln. 
 
 The sad tone of his voice attracted Mr. Speed and he said to him. 
 
 "I think I can suggest a plan by which you can avoid the debt and 
 at the same time attain your end." 
 
 "Do you really think so," said Lincoln, his face brightening. 
 
 "Yes," said Speed, "I have a large room with a double bed up- 
 stairs which you are welcome to share with me." 
 
 "Where is the room?" said Lincoln. 
 
 "Upstairs," said Speed. 
 
 He took the saddle-bags upstairs, set them on the floor and came 
 down looking very happy. He exclaimed, "Well Speed, I've moved." 
 
 Thus he began his life as a lawyer in Springfield. 
 
 In 1846 he ran for congress against the celebrated Circuit rider, 
 Peter Cartwright, whom you have all read about. 
 
 By the way I am reminded of a story which happened in this cam- 
 paign. Lincoln attended the preaching of Cartwright one evening 
 after having spoken in the afternoon. Cartwright saw him in the 
 
 6 
 
audience. After his sermon the preacher called upon all who wanted 
 to go to Heaven to stand up. All arose but Lincoln. Then the 
 preacher called for all who didn't want to go to Hell to stand up. 
 Lincoln didn't stand up. Cartwright exclaimed, "I'm surprised to see 
 Abe Lincoln sitting back there and if he don't want to go to Heaven nor 
 escape Hell will he tell us where he does want to go." Lincoln arose 
 slowly and replied, "I'm going to Congress." 
 
 In this congress he met most of the celebrated men. In the 
 House was John Quincy Adams, Caleb B. Smith, Richard W. Thompson 
 of Indiana, and Alexander H. Stephens, afterwards Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the Confederacy. Stephens said of Lincoln, "He and Lincoln 
 were in Congress together and Lincoln was careful as to his manner, 
 awkward in his speech but was possessed of a very strong, clear, 
 vigorous mind. He had no model. He illustrated by story." 
 
 In the Senate Was Daniel Webster, John A. Dix, Simon Cameron, 
 John C. Calhoun, and Jefferson Davis. 
 
 The most important act of Lincoln was the introduction of a bill 
 to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. It was while in con- 
 gress that Colonel Thompson and Lincoln first met. Thompson 
 represented the Terre Haute and Lincoln the Springfield district. 
 Thompson having been in congress before was better acquainted with 
 the congressmen and the people of Washington. Both being west- 
 ern men they naturally became attached to each other. This friend- 
 ship lasted until the death of Lincoln. Their terms expired on March 
 3, 1849, and both went to their homes. 
 
 Lincoln sought the appointment of Commissioner of the Gen- 
 eral Land Office and wrote Colonel Thompson the following letter, 
 which has never before been published: 
 
 (CONFIDENTIAL) 
 
 Springfield, 111., May 25, 1849. 
 Col. R. W. Thompson, 
 
 Terre Haute, Indiana. 
 Dear Sir: — 
 
 "I am about to ask a favor of you, and one which I hope will not 
 cost you much, I understand the General Land Office is about to be 
 given to Illinois; and that Mr. Ewing desires Justin Butterfield of 
 Chicago to be the man. I will not trouble you with particulars, but will 
 assure you that the appointment of Mr. Butterfield will be an egregious 
 political blunder. I believe it will gratify no single Whig in the state, 
 except it be Mr. B. himself. 
 
 Now the favor I wish of you is, that you will write General Tay- 
 lor at once, saying that in your opinion, either I, OR THE MAN I 
 RECOMMEND, should be appointed to that office, if anyone from lUi- 
 
 7 
 
nois shall be. I restrict my request to Illinois, because I think it 
 probable you have already recommended someone, probably from your 
 own state, and I do not wish to interfere with that." 
 
 Yours truly, A. LINCOLN." 
 
 Mr. Butterlield got the place. Lincoln was then offered the govern- 
 orship of the state of Oregon. This he declined. If Lincoln's request 
 had been granted and his appointment had been secured at the request 
 of Colonel Thompson we would not be here celebrating the anniver- 
 sary of his birth. Had Lincoln been selected for this position his 
 great character would have been buried in a small official position and 
 he would never have been President of the United States and the map 
 of this country might have been changed, 
 
 I call attention to this for the reason that there seemed to be a 
 guiding hand holding Mr. Lincoln in the background so that he could 
 prepare for the great struggle which was to come like a hurricane 
 in this country and he was soon to make more history than any man 
 since Washington. However, to this poor struggling country lawyer 
 this position was an attractive one. 
 
 Remember that this letter was dated in 1849. I have another 
 letter written by Lincoln in 1850 a little more than a year after. In 
 closing he said: 
 
 "One part of your letter induces me to say that I would 
 not now accept the land office if it were offered to me. Yours 
 as ever. 
 
 A. LINCOLN." 
 
 In 1848, Lincoln wrote his biography, and it was the only history 
 of himself, written by himself, which he then expected to be printed. 
 
 "Born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County Kentucky. Education defec- 
 tive. Profession, Lawyer. Have been a captain of a volunteer com- 
 pany in Black Hawk War. Also postmaster at a very small office. 
 Four times member of Illinois Legislature, and was a member of the 
 Lower House of Congress." Yours, etc , 
 
 A. LINCOLN." 
 
 In the winter of 1854 the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
 aroused him. He could not refrain from returning to politics. The 
 great barrier against the extension of slavery was assailed by the 
 most powerful man in congress, Senator Douglas who was the author 
 of the bill to repeal the Missouri Compromise. 
 
 To sum up his position at that time in all his speeches he was not 
 an abolitionist. Believed slavery was wrong but was entitled to its 
 constitutional rights and no more. That the government had no right 
 to interfere where it then existed. He was opposed to any further 
 extension into new states and territories. It was a call to arms. 
 
At twenty-three he had formed an aversion to slavery and now 
 took up the fight against its extension and from that time he made up 
 his mind that he would be the next Senator from Illinois and wrote 
 to a friend of his: 
 
 "I would rather have a full term as U. S. Senator than the 
 
 Presidency." 
 
 From that time began his campaign against the position of Sena- 
 tor Douglas. 
 
 In order to determine the strength and position of the man he 
 was to attack, let us take the measure of his antagonist. Douglas 
 at twenty walked into the town of Winchester, Illinois, and imme- 
 diately entered upon a career which hardly has a parallel in human 
 success. At thirty years he had been a member of the Illinois legis- 
 lature, state's attorney, register of the land office, secretary of the 
 state of Illinois, judge of the supreme court and was on his way to 
 Washington to take his seat in Congress. 
 
 He was re-elected three successive times to the lower house and 
 was elected to the United States senate in 1852 and was to beat Lin- 
 oln in 1858. 
 
 iTwice in the national convention of his party he was a candidate 
 for president. He had been connected with all the great measures 
 before congress, including the carrying through of the measure that 
 chartered the Illinois Central railroad, giving to it a large grant , of 
 land. He controlled the political patronage of Illinois, which was a 
 most formidabe organization. You can see that he would be a great 
 and dangerous adversary. 
 
 Remember and keep in mind that Lincoln had been preparing 
 for this conflict. He had been aroused four years before and in these 
 four years he had been energetically organizing his forces in every 
 part of the state. 
 
 He was a student of the Constitution; he knew the history of his 
 government and his party and the history of the Democratic party. 
 He knew everything about the public record of Douglas. He was a 
 giant intellectually and physically, and above all things he was a 
 political organizer and political leader. 
 
 Remember and keep in mind that this conflict was confined to the 
 state of Ilinois, but when these two great gladiators went into the 
 political arena, Illinois was no longer the theater or this conflict. 
 It spread over all the north, south, east and west, but Illinois was 
 the center of the battle-ground and the presidency was to be the final 
 winning stakes. 
 
 There had been great debates in the old Continental Congress. 
 Great debates in the American Congress in 1820 and 1821 between 
 
Webster and Hayne and Calhoun on nullification, but the debates of 
 1858 between Lincoln and Douglas in historic interest surpassed them 
 jail. 
 
 Douglas was so famous that everybody rushed to hear him. This 
 fact impressed Mr. Lincoln. He wanted to reach the Democrats, so 
 he challenged Douglas to speak from the same platform in a series 
 of debates face to face. Lincoln met him with a very simple prop- 
 osition. "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this 
 government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I 
 do not expect that the Union will be dissolved. I do not expect that 
 it will be divided. It will become all one thing or the other." 
 
 There were seven of these debates. Read them and when you 
 have closed the book you will say they were mighty giants. Douglas 
 was elected by these debates but they beat Douglas for the presi- 
 dency two years later and elected Lincoln president. 
 
 In these debates Douglas traveled in state in the private car of 
 George B. McClellan, at that time an official of the Illinois Central 
 railroad company, and afterward a general in the Union army. This 
 railroad was not as friendly to Lincoln and he occupied a half seat 
 in a common car. Douglas spent money with a lavish hand. Lin- 
 coln had none to spend. 
 
 !The slave aristocracy of the south made up their minds that 
 they would control this government. They were successful when 
 Missouri was admitted and it was through the influence of Henry 
 Clay that the Missouri Compromise was made, that Missouri would 
 be admitted a slave state, that they would concede all territory north 
 of the south line of Missouri, or in other words, north of the parallel 
 latitude 30-60 should be forever free, but the south would not keep 
 this agreement when it came to the admission of Kansas and Ne- 
 braska. 
 
 Governor Wise of Virginia announced that, "Slavery 
 should pour itself abroad and have no limit but the south- 
 ern ocean." 
 
 When Pres.ident Polk came to settle the war with Mexico, the 
 United States minister at Mexico City refused to enter into negotia- 
 tions that would prohibit slavery in the territory that we were to 
 take from Mexico, and said: 
 
 "If the whole territory offered was increased ten fold 
 in value, and covered a foot thick with pure gold upon the 
 single condition that slavery should be excluded therefrom 
 he would not entertain the idea nor think of communicating 
 the proposition to Washington." 
 
 10 
 
This condition of affairs brought on the "IRREPRESSIBLE CON- 
 FLICT/' 
 
 This was the condition of affairs when Mr. Lincolh concluded to 
 €nter politics. 
 
 SLAVERY. 
 
 It is well enough to go hack. Slavery was introduced into the 
 colonies by the English in 1772. Virglinia petitioned the British 
 government to stop the importation of slaves. The king was in 
 favor of slavery. At the first congress in 1774 at Philadelphia, Jef- 
 ferson presented a resolution declaring, "The abolition of slavery is 
 the greatest object of desire of these colonies." 
 
 Be it to the everlasting credit of Jefferson that in 1784 he advo- 
 cated that slavery should not be allowed in the new states that were 
 I)eing formed in the west and northwest, and it was nearly one hun- 
 dred years before that proposition became a law of Congress. 
 
 In 1787 as governor of Virginia he wrote an ordinance ceding 
 the Northwest Territory to the United States and in that document 
 there was a covenant that slavery should be forever forbidden in. 
 the Northwest Territory. 
 
 Had Jefferson's advice been followed in all probability we would 
 have never had the Civil War because it grew out of the extension 
 of slavery in the new states. The fathers and founders of this Re- 
 public were against slavery and in the Declaration of Independence 
 they la.id down the proposition that "all men are created equal." It 
 was upon this rock that Lincoln stood when he entered politics. 
 
 Washington wrote a letter in which he said, "There is no man 
 living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted 
 for the abolition of it." And in his will he provided for the freedom 
 of his slaves. 
 
 Coming down to after 1830, let us look at conditions. New Eng- 
 land had the big factories and they must have cotton and cotton 
 could not be produced without slaves, so they thougiu. That money, 
 fashion and religion all combined to perpetuate slavery because they 
 made money out of it. The first families of the North stood in with 
 the first families of the South. Property rights were involved and 
 property rights were more sacred than human rights. 
 
 This was in old Massachusetts and while Boston was secure in 
 the fact that she was making money a mob broke out near where the 
 Cradle of Liberty stood. William Lloyd Garrison was dragged down 
 the street to be hung because he published the "Liberator." This 
 mob woke up a young lawyer. He had descended from the Puritans. 
 His ancestors had fought in the Revolution and Wendell Phillips 
 
 11 
 
was not then an abolitionist, but was in favor of free speech and 
 this led him to take the field for free speech. He became an aboli- 
 tionist and he and his wife became social outlaws in society. In 
 Alton, 111., Rev. Elijah P .Lovejoy had been killed by a mob for pub- 
 lishing what he believed against slavery. 
 
 A tremor of horror ran through the North. Not a question of 
 slavery but free speech. Wendell Phillips made a speech at Faneuil 
 Hall on the Lovejoy murder and that speech made abolition respect- 
 able in New England, and from that time on he gave his life to this 
 cause. He was followed by Charles Sumner, John Q. Adams, Joshua 
 Giddings, Horace Greeley, Fred Douglas, George W. Curtis, John G, 
 Whittier, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Ben Butler, Charles 
 Francis Adams, William C. Bryant, John A. Dix and old Ben Wade. 
 The momentum increased like a prairie fire. The man who was to 
 be their leader in after years was none other than Lincoln. 
 
 In the long years after these days and times, this abolition 
 movement is almost forgotten. Henry Watterspn said, "The South 
 never had a better friend than Lincoln." John B. Gordon, the great 
 confederate leader, said, "We know now that slavery was a gigantic 
 mistake." 
 
 In 1860 at the Charleston convention the Democrats of eight slave 
 states withdrew from that convention and afterward met at Rich- 
 mond and nominated Breckenridge. The Democratic party met at 
 Baltimore and nominated Douglas. Lincoln was nom.lnated at Chi- 
 cago. He remained at home when the balloting was going on. When 
 he read the telegram announcing his nomination he didn't stop to re- 
 ceive the congratulations of those around him, but said, "There is a- 
 little woman down at our house who will be glad to hear this. I'll 
 go down and tell her." 
 
 I need not go over the campaign. It had no parallel in the 
 history of this country. On the 7th of November the votes showed 
 that Lincoln had been elected and would be inaugurated in four 
 months. South Carolina rejoiced over his election with bonfires, 
 because it furnished a pretext for secession. 
 
 One southern state after another went out of the Union. South 
 Carolina was followed by Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 
 Louisiana and Texas and on the 4th day of February seven states 
 met at Montgomery and formed a government with Jefferson Davis 
 as president and Alexander H. Stephens, vice-president. Davis was 
 educated at West Point at the expense of the government which he 
 sought to destroy. He was an imperious, high strung fellow. Secre- 
 tary of War under Pierce, then United States senator. 
 
 Stephens was a different kind of a fellow. He was against se- 
 
 12 
 
cession. He asked the members of the Georgia legislature what rea- 
 son they could give for secession. He told them, 
 
 "When the south demanded slave trade, the north 
 yielded; when they demanded three-fifths representation for 
 their slaves the north yielded. The north yielded again and 
 again. You will by this unwise act have your slaves taken 
 from you by a universal emancipation." 
 This prophecy should have been listened to. 
 
 On the 11th of February with his family and personal friends 
 Lincoln left his home at Springfield for Washington. If you will 
 read his farewell speech to his neighbors when leaving his home 
 there will be no doubt in your mind but that he was a Christian. 
 He once said to a congressman. 
 
 "When a church shall inscribe on its altar, as its sole 
 qualification for membership, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God, with all thy heart, with all thy mind and thy neighbor 
 as thyself,' that church shall I join with all my soul." 
 
 He was a Christian but not orthodox. He believed in the Bible 
 but not in creeds and dogmas and said of the Bible, 
 
 "It's the best gift which God ever gave to man." It was the 
 cornerstone of his faith, and he followed in the footsteps of the 
 Nazarene. 
 
 On his way he passed through Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, New 
 York and Pennsylvania. A plot to assassinate him when he passed 
 through Baltimore was discovered by Allan Pinkerton, the noted de- 
 tective. The wires were cut. A special train was hurriedly made 
 up at Harrisburg and went through Baltimore twelve hours ahead 
 of time. He was met by Senators Washburn and Seward on his 
 arrival at Washington and taken to the Willard Hotel. 
 
 He delivered his inaugural address and when he removed his 
 hat to face the multitude Douglas reached out and took his hat and 
 held it. Douglas called at the White House and tendered his ser- 
 vices. Lincoln told him to go back to Illinois and influence his friends 
 to hold to the Union. Four years later they joined each other on 
 "fame's eternal camping ground." Douglas started back to his home, 
 made speeches on the way. At Springfield he spoke to the people and 
 said, 
 
 "So long as there was a hope of a peaceful solution I 
 prayed and implored for a compromise and have failed. There 
 is but one thing to do, rally around the flag, forget all party 
 and remember only your country. THE SHORTEST ROAD 
 TO PEACE IS THE MOST TREMENDOUS PREPARATION 
 F'OR WAR." 
 
 13 
 
From Springfield he went to Chicago and in the great "Wig- 
 wam" where Lincoln was nominated repeated his appeal for the Unidn 
 and said, 
 
 "THERE CAN BE NO NEUTRALS IN THIS WAR, ONLY 
 PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS." 
 
 He was taken ill and at the age of forty-eight died. I never look 
 on the shaft erected to his memory on the lake front in Chicago 
 but I take off my hat in veneration to one of the greatest men of this 
 western country. 
 
 What did Lincoln inherit from Buchanan? This country was 
 like a town which had been struck with a cyclone and but for loyal 
 old General Scott treason would have had its way. The treasury 
 was empty. The army and navy scattered. The slave party had ruled 
 for half a century and it was in rebellion. The officers of the army 
 were mostly Southern men who had been educated at the expense 
 of the government. They went with the South except Generals Scott, 
 Thomas, Meade and Farragut. Other generals had to be trained from 
 civil life with the exception of Grant, Sherman and others. The con- 
 spiracy had been preparing for thirty years. The administration had 
 acted as a wrecking crew, wrecking the government, since the elec- 
 tion of Lincoln. Buchanan, a weak old man, didn't try to stop them. 
 Some of his cabinet went into the Confederate cabinet at Richmond. 
 
 From the day that Lincoln took the oath of office he was the 
 biggest man in his cabinet, but not one of them but thought he was 
 bigger than his master and those who disagreed with him were 
 usually brought to his views because of his logical manner of han- 
 dling a subject. 
 
 Here is a sample: 
 
 At one time Lincoln had thought out a policy. He called 
 his cabinet together and carefully read it over to them, pre- 
 senting his policy in detail. It was discussed freely. After 
 the discussion he proceeded to put it to a vote. "All in favor 
 of this policy will signify by saying 'aye'. Lincoln voted 
 "aye" and was the only one who did. 
 
 Lincoln studied a Little bit, and finally said, "Those op- 
 posed will say 'no'." All of his cabinet voted "no." He 
 looked out of the window quite a while, and finally turned 
 around to the members of the cabinet and said, "The ayes 
 have it." 
 
 He had mental giants in his cabinet. They were considered 
 authority on all matters. Stanton had the burden of the war. He 
 was a stern disciplinarian, but faithful to Lincoln and Lincoln had 
 
 14 
 
an abiding confidence in him. Many stories are told of how Stanton 
 dominated Lincoln: 
 
 On a certain occasion it was related that the president 
 was informed by a furious friend of his that the secretary 
 of war had not only refused to execute an order of the presi- 
 dent's, but had called him a fool into the bargain. 
 
 "Did Stanton say I was a fool?" inquired Lincoln. 
 
 "Yes," replied his friend, "he said you were a blank blank 
 fool.' 
 
 Lincoln loooked at his friend, then out of the window in 
 the direction of the war department, and said: 
 
 "Well, if Stanton says I am a blank, blank fool, it must 
 be so, for Stanton is nearly always right and generally means 
 what he says. I think I will have to step over and see Stan- 
 ton." 
 
 In addition to disagreements in his official family, the great men 
 from all over the country were diisagreeing with him and were going 
 in delegations to advise him. To all of them he listened patiently 
 and usually dismissed them with some pertinent illustration. 
 
 He was weighted down by the cares of the war. Weighted down 
 by dissensions in the North and among his own people. Disturbed 
 by persons wanting favors and offices, but he rested by doing some 
 kind act to relieve somebody. 
 
 A soldier had been turned down by every one else and 
 went to Lincoln, who reproved the man and sent him away. 
 After a night of remorse Lincoln entered his carriage, drove 
 down to the hotel and hunted the soldier up and took him 
 in his carriage and saw him through with his troubles. 
 Stanton heard about it and apologized to Lincoln for reject- 
 ing the soldier's appeal. 
 
 "No, no," replied Lincoln, "you did right in adhering to 
 your rules. If we had such a soft-headed old fool as I am in 
 your place there would be no rules that the army could de- 
 pend upon." 
 
 . He thought he knew how to deal with the rebellion but the office- 
 seekers demanded all of his time. 
 
 "I am," he said, "like the man so busy in letting rooms 
 in one end of his house that he can't stop to put out the fire 
 that as burning the other end." 
 
 As time went on the absorbing question was, freeing the slaves. 
 What effect it would have on the border states was a question. They 
 thought the border states would take a gradual emancipation for 
 
 15 
 
compensation. So in March, 1862, in a message to congress, Lincoln 
 
 said, 
 
 "In my judgment, gradual, and not sudden, emancipation 
 is better for all. That the United States ought to co-operate 
 with any state which may adopt a gradual abolition of slav- 
 ery by compensating them." 
 
 This proposition was denounced. Roscoe Conkling, then in 
 the house, said, "it was Like giving diluted milk." 
 
 On the 12th of July, the president invited members of congress 
 from the border states and begged them to accept compensation for 
 their slaves before it was too late to secure compensation and by 
 doing so save the Union. 
 
 Lincoln had two intimate friends in congress. They belonged to 
 opposite parties, both Union men — John J. Crittenden of Kentucky 
 and Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, both devoted to Lincoln, and each had 
 Ills confidence. Against emancipation the great Crittenden said: 
 
 "There is a niche in the temple of fame — a niche near to 
 Washington. It is in his power to occupy a place next to 
 Washington— the FOUNDER and PRESERVER side by side." 
 Lovejoy, whose brother was murdered by a mob, in answer 
 said : 
 
 "I, too, have a niche for Abraham Lincoln, but it is in free- 
 dom's holy fane, and not in the blood-besmeared temple of 
 human bondage; not surrounded by slaves, fetters and chains. 
 It is a fame worth living for: aye, more, that is a fame worth 
 dying for." 
 
 On the 22nd of September, 1862, the Proclamation was published. 
 The final one was issued on the first of January in 1863. When the 
 paper was brought to him by Seward to be signed, Lincoln said, 
 "Mr. Seward, I have been shaking hands all day, and my right hand 
 is almost paralyzed. If my name ever gets into history it will be 
 lor this act, and my soul is in it." Resting his arm a moment he 
 turned to the table, took up his pen and slowly and firmly wrote, 
 ^'Abraham Lincoln." He smiled, handed the paper to Mr. Seward and 
 said, "That will do." 
 
 He had done what Alexander H. Stephens predicted he could do. 
 
 Bells rang out over all New England, all New York, over the 
 mountains, over Pennsylvania across the prairies over the West to 
 and beyond the Rocky Mountains. Great meetings were held. Gov- 
 ernors of the loyal states held a meeting at Altoona and sent a 
 message of congratulation. 
 
 Congress in December adopted a resolution sanctioning it. Con- 
 
 16 
 
gratulations come pouring in from Great Britain. John Q. Adams 
 away back in 1836 had made the statement, "I lay down this as a 
 law of nations that in case of war the president of the United States, 
 and the commander of all armies, has power to order universal 
 emancipation of the slaves." The right had been claimed and exer- 
 cised by Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. 
 
 Our armies began to win battles. On the 4th of July Grant 
 captured Vicksburg and opened up the Mississippi to its mouth. The 
 battle of Gettysburg was fought and Lee was chased out of the north 
 forever. The turn of the tide in the war had been passed and on the 
 19th of November of that year Edward Everett in a great masterly 
 speech consecrated the ground at Gettysburg and his speech was fol- 
 lowed by a very short speech by Lincoln. 
 
 There are four instances in the history of the world when great 
 deeds have been celebrated. The well known epitaph upon the 
 Spartans who died at Thermopylae; the words of Demosthenes on 
 those Greeks who fell at Marathon; the speech of Webster of those 
 who died at Bunker Hill and the words of Lincoln of those who laid 
 down their lives on the field of Gettysburg. 
 
 Lincoln turned to Everett and grasped his hand and said, "I 
 congratulate you on your success." Everett replied, "Ah, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, how gladly would I exchange all of my hundred pages to have 
 been the author of your twenty lines." 
 
 Lincoln had tried several generals and had made little progress 
 along the Potomac for two years. McClellan was a fine organizer 
 and had a fine army but Lincoln couldn't get him to fight. Speak- 
 ing of him at one time he said, "McClellan is a great man, a fine 
 engineer, but a stationary engineer." Lincoln had heard of Belmont, 
 Fort Donaldson, Shilo and Vicksburg. The name of the commander 
 of these battles had filled the land with renown but was personally 
 unknown in Washington. So Lincoln sent for him to make him 
 Lieutenant General, commander of all the armies. 
 
 He came to a Washington hotel to register, a cigar in his mouth, 
 an old army hat on his head, a linen duster on his back and was 
 told that he could get no room except at the top of the house, but 
 he went on writing his name. 
 
 When the startled clerk turned the register around and read, 
 "U. S. Grant and Son, Galena, Illinois," he at once assigned him to 
 the finest parlor in the hotel. 
 
 He went to the White House, where there was a reception going 
 on. He was recognized by the president. When parting from the 
 president that evening he said, "This has rather been the warmest 
 campaign I have witnessed since the war." He then visited the 
 
 17 
 
armies of the Potomac and returned to Washington for an interview 
 with the president and the secretary of war regarding the future 
 plans and prepared to leave for the west. He was told by the presi- 
 dent that Mrs. Lincoln wanted him to attend a dinner in his honor. 
 Grant said, 
 
 "Mrs. Lincoln must excuse me. I must be in Tennessee 
 at a given time." "But we can't excuse you," said the presi- 
 dent. "I appreciate the honor Mrs. Lincoln would do me," 
 said the general, "but time is very important and really, Mr. 
 Lincoln, I have had enough of this show business." General 
 Grant went west without waiting for the dinner. 
 
 After that Lincoln no longer troubled himself with the direction 
 of his armies. 
 
 Grant, commander-in-chief. Sherman on his way through the 
 solid south, "from Atlanta to the sea," with Meade, the hero of 
 Gettysburg, and Sheridan, made immortal by the poet in "Sheridan 
 Twenty Miles Away." 
 
 In March, 1865, Lincoln went to City Point on the James river, 
 where he had a conference with Grant and Sherman. A survey was 
 made of the strength of all the armies and it was their judgment 
 that Sherman with 80,000 men, as brave as Caesar's legions, and with 
 Grant's army, Lee would have to surrender. Lincoln, when told 
 "One more battle was likely to occur before the end," exclaimed, 
 "Must more blood be shed? Cannot this bloody battle be avoided?" 
 Even when they were consulting, Sheridan cut off Lee's chance to 
 escape and in ten days' marching and fighting with Sheridan's cavalry 
 in the lead, Grant's infantry, moving like a solid wall, finished the 
 campaign. 
 
 Appomattox came quickly. Grant returned Lee's sword. John- 
 son surrendered to Sherman. The war was over. 
 
 There are three great state papers which mark the progress of 
 the Anglo-Saxon civilization. First is the "Magna Charta" wrested 
 by the barons of England from King John. Second, the "Declaration 
 of Independence" and third, worthy to be placed upon the tablets 
 of history with the first two, is Abraham Lincoln Emancipation Proc- 
 lamation. 
 
 2,800,000 men to leave home and family. 
 
 300,000 men to die in camp and battle. 
 
 175,000 men to die in rebel prison dens. 
 
 500,000 men came back diseased and wounded to live in tor- 
 ment the remainder of their lives. 
 
 These men marched and fought and died at the call of Lincoln 
 
 18 
 
and under his command. They followed the Stars and Stripes and 
 captured the Stars and Bars. 
 
 This is what Emancipation cost. We fought eight million people 
 and four million human beings changed their chains for liberty. 
 
 There is but one other name in American history which can be 
 mentioned with Lincoln's as that of a peer, the name of Washing- 
 ton. Lincoln was as pure, as just, as patriotic as the father of his 
 country. He had more faith in the people and they had an eternal 
 confidence in him. 
 
 Sitting in a box in the theatre, watching a play called "Our 
 American Cousin"; in the box were the president and Mrs. Lin- 
 coln; back of them were Miss Clara Harris and Major Rathbone. 
 Miss Harris and Major Rathbone were lovers. The shot by a mis- 
 erable person, who sent the president to his death, made the life of 
 Mrs. Lincoln sad and melancholy. The assassin, with the stain of 
 murder on his soul and the curse of the world against him, with a 
 price set upon his head, was hunted as a wild beast until death over- 
 took Mm with the bullet of Boston Corbett in a burning building. 
 
 "Flowers beautified the lifeless remains, dirges were sung, peo- 
 ple's great hearts broke out into sobs and sighs, and so home to 
 the prairie they bore him, whom, when first he was called, the nation 
 knew him not. Who, mid the storm and raging of those years of the 
 Civil War, they had loved to call father and friend." 
 
 Some years ago I visited Oak Ridge cemetery, in his own Spring- 
 field. On the 4th day of May, 1865, they laid Mm to rest, and over 
 him they built a great shaft, enduring — but not as enduring as his 
 immortal fame. In the language of Judge Malone: 
 
 "A blend of mirth and sadness, smiles and tears, 
 A quaint knight-errant of the pioneers, 
 A homely hero, born of star and sod, 
 A peasant prince — a masterpiece of God." 
 
 There is one instance in my uneventful life which I shall never 
 forget and that is when I sat at breakfast one morning lin a city of 
 the southwest and heard the bells ringing the birth of a new state. 
 I said to myself, "Ring for the old, ring for the new, ring for the 
 Union." That day a state was born, and took her place with the 
 united country which Lincoln died for saving — the man who bore 
 the mission from God on high, when he said "A house divided against 
 itself cannot stand; this nation cannot exist half slave and half 
 free," wMch goes sounding down through the corridors of time with 
 that other immortal Revolutionary battle cry of Patrick Henry, "Give 
 me liberty or give me death." 
 
 19 
 
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63GH39A C002 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN TERRE HAUTE 
 
 3 0112 031819144